Justin Vernon Discusses Improvising & Bon Iver Future
By Andy Kahn Jul 8, 2015 • 10:50 am PDT
Justin Vernon will reassemble his band Bon Iver for the first time in months to close out his inaugural Eaux Claires Music and Arts Festival on July 17 -18. Vernon discussed the festival as well as the future of Bon Iver, improvising musically and more.
According to Grantland’s Steven Hyden, Vernon wants fellow Eaux Claires performers -including The National, Sufjan Stevens, Spoon, Charles Bradley, Sturgill Simpson and Indigo Girls -to “jam, play unusual sets, and experiment.” When asked about the future of Bon Iver after the festival set, Vernon gave a lengthy response, stating he’s been in the studio improvising and trying to capture choice moments from those sessions:
I’ve been taking it really slow. I don’t mean to get all cerebral about my art, but I’ve been trying to collect improvisations and collect moments. Like, real moments, [and] put them in a pot and serve them up. I’m thinking more, I guess, like a painter or a sculptor, like Andy Goldsworthy or something, in the way I’m putting songs together. To be clear, I’m not doing that to try and be fancy. I just think maybe I ran my course with being able to come up with new moments on the guitar.
As far as putting a record together, I don’t really know what’s happening. Our show is our main focus. We don’t have anything booked after this. We don’t have any plans. We’re not being secretive — we just don’t have any plans. It’s just about, Play the show and put all of our energy into one show — for once in my life, let’s just play one fucking show and care just about this one show for a goddamn change. It’s better than, All right, we’re going out on tour and we’re going to hit these markets and this, that, and the other. We might play some new stuff. I don’t know, we’re going to figure it out. I go home next week for two weeks of rehearsals and play with my boys.
The entire interview is enlightening and includes Vernon discussing his reaction to being parodied by Justin Timberlake on Saturday Night Live and the fact that his primary instrument these days is an OP-1 sampler-based synthesizer.
Check out the Eaux Claires entry in the newly redesigned JamBase Festival Guide.
According to Grantland’s Steven Hyden, Vernon wants fellow Eaux Claires performers -including The National, Sufjan Stevens, Spoon, Charles Bradley, Sturgill Simpson and Indigo Girls -to “jam, play unusual sets, and experiment.” When asked about the future of Bon Iver after the festival set, Vernon gave a lengthy response, stating he’s been in the studio improvising and trying to capture choice moments from those sessions:
I’ve been taking it really slow. I don’t mean to get all cerebral about my art, but I’ve been trying to collect improvisations and collect moments. Like, real moments, [and] put them in a pot and serve them up. I’m thinking more, I guess, like a painter or a sculptor, like Andy Goldsworthy or something, in the way I’m putting songs together. To be clear, I’m not doing that to try and be fancy. I just think maybe I ran my course with being able to come up with new moments on the guitar.
As far as putting a record together, I don’t really know what’s happening. Our show is our main focus. We don’t have anything booked after this. We don’t have any plans. We’re not being secretive — we just don’t have any plans. It’s just about, Play the show and put all of our energy into one show — for once in my life, let’s just play one fucking show and care just about this one show for a goddamn change. It’s better than, All right, we’re going out on tour and we’re going to hit these markets and this, that, and the other. We might play some new stuff. I don’t know, we’re going to figure it out. I go home next week for two weeks of rehearsals and play with my boys.
The entire interview is enlightening and includes Vernon discussing his reaction to being parodied by Justin Timberlake on Saturday Night Live and the fact that his primary instrument these days is an OP-1 sampler-based synthesizer.
Check out the Eaux Claires entry in the newly redesigned JamBase Festival Guide.
